


velvet and thunder and iron and chocolate

by Xanthos_Samurai



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Bruce Wayne, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Implied Violence, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Magic, Multi, Muzzles, Vampire Dick Grayson, Werewolf Jason Todd, Young Jason Todd, implied Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson - Freeform, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26807938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xanthos_Samurai/pseuds/Xanthos_Samurai
Summary: When young werewolf Jason Todd is adopted by Bruce Wayne, he's warned to stay away from a strange tower on the manor grounds. But Jason Todd has never been good at following orders.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne/Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Comments: 13
Kudos: 155





	velvet and thunder and iron and chocolate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [orphean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphean/gifts).



They kept the monster in a room at the top of a tower, like a princess in a fairy tale. Without wings, the only way to reach it was a stone staircase that spiraled up through the tower. Jason’s legs ached as he climbed the seemingly endless steps, but he didn’t stop. He was determined. If nothing else, Jason was determined. He had been since the first time he’d seen the tower and Alfred had warned him away from it.

A warm night, a new moon, stars spilled across the sky like pearls thrown onto asphalt. Their light was colder than Jason was used to, impersonal and distant. Not like moonlight. It made the lone tower, already as stark and solitary as a gallows, look even more unreal. 

Jason had nearly jumped out of his skin when Alfred had coalesced out of the darkness at the base of the tower. The phantom butler usually made himself appear corporeal but sometimes he would just… appear. It startled the life out of Jason every time there was suddenly a tall, forbidding man where there wasn’t one a moment before. Despite Bruce’s assurances, Jason didn’t think he ever would be used to it.

“That tower is off limits, Master Jason,” said Alfred.

“What do you have up there?” Jason pointed to the top of the tower. 

“Something that is too dangerous to keep in the manor proper. Hence the tower being off-limits.”

Secrets. Always secrets. Too many fucking secrets in this place. Jason narrowed his eyes.

“That’s it? ‘Something dangerous’? Doesn’t he know that I’m the most dangerous thing here, minus him? C’mon, Alfred, what is it?”

The phantom’s features sharpened and the inscrutable eyes darkened.

“It’s a monster, Master Jason.”

Jason frowned back up at the tower again. “What kind of monster’s so dangerous that the big guy keeps it locked up up there?”

“The tower is not locked,” said Alfred, no trace of emotion in his voice. “There is no need. The Wayne family’s secrets guard themselves.”

He had dissolved into shadows again, leaving Jason alone with the tower and his thoughts. 

And now he was here, climbing the forbidden tower to see what kind of monster was hidden at the top of it. The inside of the tower was even colder than the outside - his breath puffed silver clouds in the cool air and the cold stone of the wall was cold beneath his palm when he pressed against it for support. He glanced up every so often, trying to guess how many spirals until he got there. Too many. Stop looking, idiot. It won’t get you there any faster.

Jason was approaching the top when a horrible sound pierced the night, a long, drawn-out scream that started as a wail of despair and then sharpened and shredded, like silk caught on thorns, until it was a howl of rage. The sound stopped Jason cold in his tracks, chills shivering up and down every inch of him as it crescendoed and then died. His heart pounded, his hot blood clawing through his veins. His throat ached with the effort of containing the answering howl that so desperately wanted to escape. 

_What if it’s a monster like me?_ He panted as he ran up the spiral stairs now, fast enough to be dizzy, ignoring the howl in his legs. _What if it’s howling because it’s in pain?_

The door appeared so suddenly that he almost didn’t see it until he tripped up the last few steps and just barely stopped before he slammed into the heavy wooden planks. He heaved in ragged breaths in an attempt to calm his pounding heart before he went in. The door was unremarkable, no window or ornamentation other than heavy iron hinges and a heavy iron handle. There was no lock. Somehow, that was what unnerved Jason the most. He understood what might be contained behind a door with a heavy lock. After all, he was no stranger to picking his way past complicated locks looking for treasure of trouble. But a door with no lock at all…

What was it that the butler had said? _The Wayne family’s secrets guard themselves._

No turning back now, he told himself. 

He pushed the door open.

The circular room beyond was made of the same grey stone as the rest of the tower, with wide windows on all sides that gave an almost unobstructed view of the manor estate and the lands beyond. There was no furniture, no embellishment, nothing in the room... except for a young man sitting in the middle of the floor. 

The sight of him froze Jason’s blood in his veins. Blue eyes, cold as starlight, blazed from behind a long, wild tangle of black hair. The lower half of the youth’s face was covered by a metal cage, but Jason could see blood on his lips, as though he had bitten his lip so hard it had bled. Blood roared in Jason’s ears at the sight of the muzzle and he suddenly forgot how to breathe. He knew all too well the pain of wearing such a thing, although not as a human.

“Who are you?” The young man’s cold, blue gaze caught Jason’s and held it. Jason felt it ensnare him like he would feel a noose slip around his own throat and knew he was trapped. Fear surged through him, but so did anger. Anger was good, anger made him remember how to breathe, anger had kept him alive when all else had failed. He clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, determined not to answer. He may not be able to escape, but nobody would make him answer.

“...Ah. You’re the new one.” 

His voice was a velvet purr, even from behind the muzzle. The young man flowed to his feet, the movement so fluid that Jason almost didn’t register it until the man was standing as tall as he was. A strange rattle caught his attention and he realized belatedly the collar around the youth’s neck, and heavy silver chain that led from it to a heavy silver ring set into the floor in the exact middle of the room. 

“Who are _you_?” Jason found his voice at last, and it came out in a snarl. He hated being afraid. He hated when the fight or flight coursed through his blood and shouted _run_ instead of _fight_. He would never run. He was predator, not prey.

“I’m Dick. I was the first one.” The muzzled youth tilted his head and let his eerie gaze slide up and down Jason’s body. “The first lost boy he seduced. I bet you’re just like me, aren’t you?”

“I’m not a fucking vampire,” Jason spat, relieved to finally say the word out loud. The room smelled of cold stone and iron and the copper tang of blood strongest of all, but the intoxicating scent of vampire lingered beneath it all, that scent of cut flowers just on the edge of decay. He’d smelled it before, and he’d spent his life since trying to forget.

“No, you’re a fucking werewolf.” Dick’s voice was like midnight and his cold star eyes were still fixed on Jason’s. He hadn’t blinked once, hadn’t broken the gaze. “But you were alone, weren’t you? Alone and desperate. You would have cut your heart out of your chest in exchange for a kind word. And then he came along, all velvet and thunder and iron and chocolate and he says he _understands_ the darkness like you do, that he _is_ darkness like you are. And you want so badly to be loved… for _him_ to love you. Am I right?”

Confusion roiled in Jason, memories of velvet blankets so soft his rough hands had snagged on them, of his first taste of chocolate spreading over his tongue, sweet and bitter and enough to make him gasp with delight, of Bruce laughing softly at him, like thunder in the dark, of the sharp, sour smell of iron and silver as Bruce closed the muzzle around his head as he whimpered and cried, promising that it was for his own good. 

And suddenly, Dick was right in front of him, only a few feet away. His movements were so silent, so liquid, that even Jason didn’t see them. He jerked back with a snarl.

“Don’t!” He warned.

Dick smiled from behind the muzzle, his lips rouged with blood, his fangs glinting. The chain attached to the collar around his neck was taut, a straight line between his throat and the silver ring in the floor. 

“He’s very smart, you know. He made it so I can’t reach him when he comes to visit me.” Dick gestured to something behind Jason. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason realized that there was a chair just to the side of the door that he had entered, apparently just outside the vampire’s reach. As if to demonstrate, Dick extended a hand towards Jason.

Jason forced himself not to move. Sure enough, Dick’s outstretched hand stopped several inches from his face, but that was cold comfort. His fingers ended in long claws that Jason knew from experience could slice through almost anything except iron.

“...Why does he keep you here? Why didn’t I know about you?” Jason frowned.

Dick lowered his hand again. 

“Because I’m a disappointment. He wants to love us, you know. He thinks he loves us. Maybe he even really tries to. But if you cross him, this is what happens.” He gestured around him expansively. “He doesn’t like anything that he can’t control.”

“Why not just kill you then?” Asked Jason bluntly.

The vampire laughed and tilted his head again. He tapped the claw of one index finger against the muzzle with a small _ting_ like a needle dropped on a marble floor. “Oh, I can see why he likes you… For a while I wasn’t sure if he’d actually replace me after all, but you’re exactly to his taste. Sharp. Bold. And you’re already beautiful, aren’t you? Exactly to his taste… Even more so when you get a little older.” He gestured to himself. “Just like me. I may not be able to serve as his son anymore, but he has other, more carnal uses for me. Be careful of him. He wants you to make a mistake so he can keep you with him forever. He never gives up anything that belongs to him. You’ll see soon enough, little brother.”

He didn’t want to believe him. There was no proof that he truly was some long-lost first son of Jason’s adopted father. And even if there, he was a vampire. Vampires were manipulators, seducers… it was their nature to lie to serve their own ends. And yet… there was something in Dick’s words that Jason knew was true. Maybe it was the haunted look that yet lingered in the cold blue eyes, or the way he knew all the intimate senses of the moments that Jason and Bruce had shared, or the note of despair that had been in the howl, or the smell of blood and sex that still lingered. 

“Why has he done this to you?” Jason found himself whispering, as though Bruce could be listening to them. 

Dick stepped back, suddenly slack chain clanging on the stone floor. There was a new light in his eyes that made Jason nervous. He seemed restless now, his fingers flexing at his sides.

“I asked him to let me go,” he hissed. “I told him he would always be my father, I promised him I would hurt no one, would tell no one his secrets, would come back to him… He chained me here and told me I was a monster, that I belonged to him and that it was his duty to protect the world from me… As though a vampire is worse than a demon.”

Jason was about to reply when a sudden shudder wracked the vampire’s body. He fell to the ground with a moan and seemed to collapse on himself, sucking air between his teeth. He gouged his claws into the flesh of his arms and dragged down. Jason watched with horror as the bloodless wounds gaped in the pale skin for seconds before they closed up again. That same eerie howl poured from his throat, desperate and keening, almost involuntary. Dick looked up at Jason with eyes void of any kind of recognition or understanding, empty of anything but hunger. Without warning, he lunged at the boy and caught Jason’s shirt in his claws. Jason snarled and clawed at Dick, terrified not only by the vampire’s speed but his strength as well. The cold, bloodless hands gripping his throat may as well have been made of iron themselves.

Dick pulled Jason to him until their bodies were practically pressed together. He was shaking, from bloodlust or from the effort of containing the bloodlust, Jason wasn’t sure which. There was madness behind the hunger in his blue eyes, and desperation, but finally there was recognition again. He lowered his head as though he were going to kiss Jason, the cold metal of the muzzle the only thing separating their skin.

“Run,” he breathed against Jason’s lips. “Run away from here, before he puts his mark on you. Run away and don’t come back, little brother. I’ve been trapped in this room for ten years, but it’s not too late yet. Not for you.”

Electricity coursed through Jason’s entire body, his senses hyper-focused on the cold hands around his throat, the claws pressing against his tender skin but not puncturing, the cold breath brushing his lips. He could do nothing but stare up into the vampire’s eyes, not sure how to escape. Or if he even wanted to.

“Get away from him, Jason.”

The midnight thunder voice. The scent of velvet and iron and chocolate and blood. Jason felt himself be ripped away from Dick, his senses so overwhelmed that he wasn’t sure what was happening until he found his head throbbing from the impact against the wall where he had been shoved, watching as Bruce threw the crazed vampire to the floor and held him there with a boot to his chest. The feral, howling scream ripped from Dick’s throat yet again, tinged with more pain than anger this time. The silver chain moved, snakelike, to wrap itself around Dick’s wrists, effectively binding them together. The scream died. Dick snarled and struggled, but could not dislodge Bruce. It didn’t make any sense because Jason knew how strong the vampire was - certainly strong enough to throw a mere human like Bruce to the floor. All at once, Jason remembered Bruce showing him the iron crosses that were inlaid into the soles of his boots. He realized with a child that it must have been for this exact reason.

“You were told not to come here,” Bruce did not even look over his shoulder at Jason as Dick’s struggles waned. After a few moments, the vampire’s struggles stopped and he was reduced to pathetic panting.

“What’s wrong with him? Why did he go crazy?” Jason couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at the scene.

“He’s starving.” Bruce stared down at Dick with an expression so devoid of emotion that it chilled Jason. “He has two choices - eat what he is given or starve. So far he has elected to starve. Sometimes, that combined with excitement makes him lose control. When I attempted to feed him earlier today, he attacked and bit me.” He narrowed his eyes down at his oldest son. “Do not move until we are out of this room. If you do, you will be punished. Is that understood?”

“But you love punishing me…” Dick’s voice was hoarse and husky, shredded from his screams. “That’s why you keep me here… You like when I can’t hide…”

The windows of the tower… Jason stared at them, comprehension dawning. That’s why the vampire was kept here. Unless the windows were opaqued or covered, there was no way to escape the sun during the daytime. Or maybe Dick meant that Bruce was the one he couldn’t escape from…

“I misbehave just for you, Father, just so you can enjoy it.” The vampire’s purr was a mockery of itself, broken and rough.

Bruce gestured with one hand. The metal of the muzzle on Dick’s face shimmered and seemed almost to melt in on itself. It became a liquid iron strand, thin as thread. Jason wondered what the point of this was and then watched with horror as the iron thread pierced Dick’s lower lip. Dick started to scream, but the sound was cut off by an invisible force holding his jaw shut. In just a few moments, Dick’s mouth was sewn shut with iron thread, the wounds bloodless but no less horrifying. He shook, from rage or pain or both, and stared up at Bruce with naked hate in his eyes.

Jason felt numb. He wanted to vomit. He wanted to run. He wanted to scream, but he didn’t dare do any of those things. He’d known that Bruce could use magic, real magic, but it was a rare occurrence. He had never seen anything like this. He didn’t think Bruce was capable of anything like this. He pressed his back harder into the icy stone wall as Bruce removed his foot from Dick’s chest and stepped away from the vampire.

“Perhaps that will act as a suitable deterrent until I can come up with more effective restraints. You’ve proven yourself unworthy of even this small measure of freedom,” said Bruce, his voice cold. “I advise you to think very hard about what further punishment will look like before you threaten anyone else again.”

Dick stayed still, trembling. Bruce clearly didn’t expect any kind of answer because he finally turned to Jason and his eyes softened.

“Did he hurt you, my son?” 

The difference between that soft, concerned voice and the harsh, cruel one of seconds before nearly sent Jason reeling. He managed to shake his head. 

“No, he didn’t try to hurt me. He just grabbed me.”

“Good.” Bruce walked towards him and it was all Jason could do not to flinch. “Don’t think that you’re not in trouble too, Jason. You were told this place is off-limits, and for good reason. But I suppose it was my own fault for not explaining properly. You were bound to be curious.”

_Be careful of him. He wants you to make a mistake so he can keep you with him forever. He never gives up anything that belongs to him. You’ll see soon enough, little brother._

Dick’s words echoed in Jason’s head. Bruce was offering him a hand to lead him out of the room, out of the tower, back to the manor where there were pillows and games and sweets and meat that fell off the bone. He took the offered hand and Bruce’s fingers closed around his like a vice. He began to walk Jason towards the door.

Jason risked one more look back over his shoulder as Bruce pulled him through the door and out onto the landing of the stairs. In the cold light of the stars, he saw desperation in the vampire’s eyes, a wordless plea for help.

 _I’ll help you._ Jason met Dick’s eyes. _I promise I’ll come back and help you._

The door slammed shut behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> My good buddy and Batfic enabler Orphean and I decided to both write short fics based on the concept of muzzles in conjunction with vampires and werewolves. I haven't completed in a long time so it was a fun prompt / challenge to do something short (although of course I am planning a follow-up!)


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